Photoshop & Lightroom For A Breakfast

How would you like to trade 1 single Sunday morning breakfast for the full versions of Adobe Photoshop & Lightroom CC, which honestly rule the photographers toolbox? Well that is now exactly what it equates to. Adobe has announced that their Photography Program is now set at the permanent price structure of $9.99 a month. What is that for us South African’s? It’s a measly R106.45 as of this morning (19 June 2014). That is a little more than an Arnold’s breakfast & latte bill.

What does this mean for us as photographers? A version of Photoshop was always a pretty hefty investment (those of us who buy our software) and I would tend to often skip versions if there was nothing I felt was critical to update. Then when Adobe announced the CC version along with the new structure of ‘renting’ the software instead of purchase I will admit I was very on the fence. The internet was amassed with angry users, happy users, the nonchalant (myself). Admittedly Adobe had some kinks to iron our with regards pricing. I personally felt the update was not worth it & happily just carried on with my life.

With the new $9.99 p/m pricing structure for both Photoshop & Lightroom CC, it has become very hard to ignore the absolute value of this offering. If you still think that spending 100 nelson bucks on 2 pieces of software that RULE your business operation then maybe being a photographer is not for you. The benefits are regular updates & essentially anything in future development from Adobe. Their recent push into the mobile platform editing/cataloguing sector is a very interesting one to watch.

So what are you waiting for. If you aren’t already, get legit & sign up. I can’t but help hearing the TV licence jingle in my head when typing this. “It’s the right thing to do.”

There is that phrase about “it’s not how much you have, but what you do with what you have”. This gets applied to photography very often when you hear someone bemoan the fact they don’t have the new f1.2 lens, or latest camera body that can do ISO 30,000,000 & it’s the reason they don’t shoot more, or shoot better images. This is getting applied more & more to filming too these days with available tech being readily accessible. While entry level equipment may not be shooting ProRes444 & allow for creamy highlights & massive dynamic latitude, the point remains -shootingf/filming/doing a good idea is better than just talking about it. Period.

This is why I personally love little stints like this one that Bentley Motors did. They filmed a short film about their vehicles & did the entire thing using an iPhone5S. They didn’t stop there. They then did the edit on an iPad Air. On top of that, they did it on the back seat of the vehicle they were filming. Now a lot of that is purely media hype ra-ra, but the fact is, these guys took the most basic equipment we all have (mine is lying next to me on the desk) and DID something. Instead of just talking about it on a round of beers, they took initiative. That is the underlying key to all this.

DOING something, whether its filming/shooting/baking/blogging/writing/sculpting/painting is better than just putting it off because you think you need that *something* to do it. That barrier is your own lazy ass. I’m guilty of this. We all are. Yet you’ll be surprised at how much you can create & do in 1 day. Just 1 day alone. So next time you think of opening up Facebook & twitter to complain (and waste away your entire day) about what you don’t have & can’t do, rather grab your smartphone & head out. Go film something. Go shoot something. At the end of the day you’ll be +1 portfolio piece & something for someone else to talk about. Yay you.

A friend of mine who is a clothing designer started doing this little monthly round up of highlights on her blog -made all from her month on Instagram. Now it’s no secret I love Instagram (and if you’re not following me, why not!? :D ) because it is my visual diary to my work life mostly, but also some side adventures. Let me just say I don’t do the “selfie” or “lunch” or “cat” (ok, I’m lying, I do post cat pics every blue moon, but they’re lolcats) pictures. I try put some effort into my Instagram feed, with the hopes that one could spend several minutes just going through a nice variety of interesting images that all tell a story.

in any case, I want to start off with January 2014 Top 15 Instagram Highlights! I’ll add the comment I made for the post so things make sense. Let’s see if I can keep this going throughout 2014. Noddy badge for me if I do.

JANUARY 2014 from Instagram’s Perspective

“Finally!”“For my partner in crime. Crime being taste. And partner being @unbounddan”
“Professional car spotter.”“Street art bought on Venice Beach, LA has finally been framed. It speaks to another art side of me if you’re wondering.”“”wish you were here” aka “wish I was still here””“Ah La Porsche Ah Le”“This mornings pre-sunrise we-didn’t-sleep-last-night-but-we-here agency & crew. This jobs a wrap!”“#1 of 10 prints that will be made of this: if you’re interested in prints, check my website under ‘art for sale’ section. www.seagrampearce.com”“One day when I’m all grown up I want to shoot beautiful architecture for a living too. For now, cars will suffice.”“You can’t NOT do this at the beach.”“Visual balance is half of ‘seeing’ properly. I think.”“I think this is one of the coolest things the @CapeTown#tourism dept has come up with. Found another one! It’s like a treasure hunt.”“Cabs-n-err-streets”“hashtag architecture love”

We often forget the years of work BEHIND us when we’re looking ahead (or currently) making an ounce of success (that feels amazing). That being said, it is hard to put ones finger on how to help those who are on the starting blocks, the bottom of the steps, those building the scaffolding on an empty plot. This little very short video helps & is for those. If you’re someone that follows my work & feels despondent, this is for you.

I had to share this one with you as it is easily one of the most moving & powerful South African adverts I’ve seen in many many years. The combo tugs a massive string with me personally, but it speaks of so many South African social issues we often don’t even think about. Check it out & leave your thoughts in the comments below.

I’m going to be making commercials like this one day in the not too distant future. Why? Because I believe I can & I want to. Creating something like this touches & moves more people than any editorial or commercial shoot may.

2013 is virtually behind us & 2014 is upon us. Already. I may be saying this at the end of 2014, but wow, did 2013 go fast! Easily the fastest year of my life if I think about it. Obviously, if you’re reading this you’ll notice I have a new website! I like change.

I loved my old website, but it did bug me that it was difficult to get a nice overview of a genre of work. I think the new layout really gives you a sense of photographic style in one glance. I don’t know how many of you have bought Eric Almas’ DVD (superb btw!) he speaks a lot about a photographers visual style. Finding yours if you don’t know what it is yet. Perhaps refining it if you’ve been shooting for a while but still don’t have a clear vision of what it is.

Nonetheless, here we are. I’ll be posting up my 2013 recap on the last day of the year. It’s always one of my favourite things to do. Recap on how much one has actually done in a year. Often (probably a photographer plague) one feels that we don’t do *enough*. So this is a great way to get a sense of self accomplishment.

We all dream of going places. Seeing new horizons & exploring new roads. I think it may be ingrained in us as human beings. However take those feelings & multiply them by 100. That comes close to the surging levels of ‘travel need’ a photographer/videographer has! I know I have my #bucketlist of places I want to go as a photographer & director. What is yours? Well, I asked around for some suggestions & this is what YOU said: (all images are sourced from google & copyright belongs to their respective owners)

Steve Parkes (@stevoparkes) said:“The rugged north of Canada to see the aurora borealis amongst the untouched wild. #bucketlist”

John Potts (facebook) says:“Alaska for the landscapes and northern lights”

Mark Freebs (website) says:“It would have to be Scandinavia. Beautiful scenery, totally different cultures in the various countries. I’d go back there in a heartbeat. Locally it would have to be the Transkei, for the same reasons!”

Ruan Redelinghuys (@RRedelinghuys) says:“Cappadocia, Turkey. Shooting all the hot-air balloons at sunrise could be very special.”

Finally, I’ve been so fortunate to cross several places off my list in my life so far. This is still one of my major ones:

Thanks for everyone who sent through their photographer #bucketlist! If this doesn’t make you want to go explore this amazingly gorgeous world of ours, nothing will! Go have a mini adventure this weekend. It’s Friday. 2 days ahead that can take you as far as your petrol allowance goes.

Last night saw me donning the one & only black suit I own for what promised to be an awards evening of elegance. It was my first time being invited to the annual Media24 Excellence Awards & I was really honoured to be rubbing shoulders with all the titans who make up Media24 & the largest magazine house in South Africa.

The evenings events awarded & displayed the incredible work that has gone into the editorial sector in the last year. Ranging from Editors of the Year, Specialist Journalist of the Year, Salesperson of the Year, Best Visuals, Best Design, Headline, Coverline, Best Cover, Wordsmith of the Year, Best Feature & Journalist of the Year. There was definitely no lack of world class talent sitting next to me!

The reason for me being invited this year was being a finalist in the Best Visuals category. This was for photography in the last year for Media24. I have asked for the full finalist list because I didn’t manage to catch it all (a bit of a spotlight blur) for the others as finalists. They all deserve equal congratulations for excellent photography & visual work.

I am extremely proud & humbled at the same time to have won this years Media24 Excellence Award for Best Visuals 2013. To be nominated by my peers & then judged by them too! Fortunately that all happened without me knowing, so I had no nerves.

All I can say is I’m really thrilled to be working with the titles I do & hope to work with more titles in the future. I could do with a trip to Zanzibar. *cough* haha

Thank you to everyone for all your support. You guys rock.

ps: The image that won the Best Visuals category was my portrait of former World Champion F1 Racer Alain Prost.

Well HELLO Profoto! The industry standard lighting kits we’ve all come to love over the years for many many reasons has just dropped what is very near the proportions of the A-Bomb. Profoto B1 Off-Camera Flash is a stand alone, 500W (220 full power pops) no wired, no cables lighting solution. If you’ve gotten your head around using speedlights on location, this will rock your world like Madonna for the 80’s.